Practice and Race One

Thruxton Circuit in Hampshire plays host to the sixth round of this year’s Bennetts British Superbike Championship (BSB) and Quattro British Supersport Championship this weekend, with Honda Racing in the thick of the action.

Celebrating his birthday at his home track, former BSB champion Tommy Bridewell was in fine form from the outset at Thruxton; ending Friday’s two Free Practice sessions with his Honda Fireblade in third place on the timesheet. In Qualifying, he automatically had a place in the top 12 based on his practice times, and would end up in fifth place on the grid.

Andrew Irwin, riding alongside Bridewell, wasn’t able to match the Wiltshire man’s pace in Free Practice after a technical issue curtailed the second Free Practice. This pushed him into the first qualifying round, producing an utterly committed lap that put him at the top in that session. In the pole position shootout, Irwin would end up with seventh place on the grid, just 0.074 seconds off Bridewell’s best time.

At the start of Saturday’s 20-lap Sprint race, a clean getaway and a couple of bold moves saw Bridewell muscle his way to the front of the field to hold the lead for as long as possible before slipping back to eighth.

This passed the baton to Irwin, who in turn battled up as high as fourth until the heat and abrasive surface of the Thruxton track saw his tyres begin to suffer. This allowed riders to come back at the Northern Irishman, including Bridewell. The two Fireblades crossed the line in fourth and fifth place.

In Supersport, the two Free Practice sessions on Friday ended with defending champion Jack Kennedy at the top of the timesheets on his Honda CBR600RR, with team-mate Dean Harrison fifth. On Saturday morning this order was reversed, however, with Harrison qualifying fourth for the Sprint race, with Kennedy also on the second row in sixth.

On the first lap, Kennedy moved up quickly to hold fourth place and stayed there to the chequered flag. Harrison also maintained a strong pace, being embroiled in a race-long battle and crossing the finish line in eighth.

Tommy Bridewell

“It was just standard Thruxton, to be honest! It’s tough here, because there are so many factors to think about in your approach: do you push hard from the start or hold back and keep out of the way of the chaos! Track position is key. I got away decently, was happy enough in the lead, and just tried to settle into the race. But there was a lot of passing, a lot of movement, a lot of riders bumping into each other and you just had to settle and regroup. I picked my time to get going again and unfortunately I got a bit held up, which allowed the front three to get away, and that’s frustrating because I feel we’ve got podium pace here.”

Andrew Irwin

“The weekend has gone quite well so far. Yesterday, in the second Free Practice session, we were unfortunate to have a little technical problem which meant that we weren’t able to go out and set a time on the soft tyre. That meant we had to go through both Qualifying sessions and so after going fastest in Q1 I had to use the old tyre in Q2. But it was a good race, I feel like I didn’t have quite as much left in the tyres as I needed at the end but a top five finish is good to have. Looking to tomorrow, we’ve got a few ideas to try out in Warm-up and then I think we can be even more positive in those two races.”

Jack Kennedy

“We rode the wheels off it today, and it’s frustrating that all we could bring home was a fourth place. It’s a good points-scoring result, of course. But really, starting from sixth on the grid, by the time I got through I’d already lost the slipstream of the lead group and had no way to reel them back in. I was really just trying to manage my race from that point, and we had a bit of a battle to hold that fourth place, so let’s hope that we can get through a bit quicker tomorrow. The plan is to get up there quicker and stick it on the podium.”

Dean Harrison

“Practice and qualifying have been good, but the race didn’t quite go to plan to be fair. I’m struggling in a couple of little areas that we need to improve for me to be able to run with the front group. The lap times that we can do, I feel they can put us in the lead group. But I’m struggling for consistency a bit, so there are a few little areas that I want to make better for tomorrow’s race. The longer distance of the Feature race will be better for me, and when the weather’s good, as it is today, it makes everyone’s life easier. It was a good battle for the whole race, but I want to be battling in the very front group and I don’t see why we can’t.”

Team Manager Havier Beltran

“It’s been a positive start to the weekend in many ways. All four bikes have completed their first races and come away with good points. It was a bit of a surprise to see how slow the pace was at the start of both races relative to last year. As ever at Thruxton, tyre management is critical to achieving success and we’ve got a few little setup changes that we are going to try which we hope will give a little bit more in the races tomorrow.”

Sunday

Honda Racing departs the sixth round of this year’s Bennetts British Superbike Championship (BSB) and Quattro British Supersport Championship having collected valuable points in both categories.

In Saturday’s opening BSB race, the two factory Honda Fireblades finished line astern in fourth and fifth place, with Tommy Bridewell narrowly ahead of team-mate Andrew Irwin.

For Race 2 the pair lined up in 10th and 11th on the grid, and both riders were cleanly away. Unfortunately, an incident early in the race delayed Bridewell and he was eventually classified 11th. Irwin meanwhile ran an equally hard race in a hard-fought pack and crossed the finish line in sixth place.

The third and final BSB race of the weekend in Hampshire saw Irwin start from eighth place and Bridewell 11th. A smart getaway for Irwin was hindered by a racing incident that dropped him back to 14th, but he charged back up to seventh at the finish, with Bridewell tenth.

In Supersport, defending champion Jack Kennedy had battled to fourth place in Saturday’s Sprint race on his Honda CBR600RR, with his five-time Isle of Man TT-winning team-mate Dean Harrison eighth.

Sunday’s feature race was subject to three red flags and a safety car period, which created a uniquely fractured race format. When the result was declared, Kennedy was classified in fifth place with Harrison once again eighth.

Tommy Bridewell

“Coming into this weekend having put the bike back to my 2024 settings felt like a big step forward. What that meant was, after leading the first race yesterday, I felt like we had a podium in us today. In the end, I was at the limit and over it on every lap, and no matter what I tried, it was just impossible to go any faster. So we’ll have to rethink it and aim to improve at Cadwell Park.”

Andrew Irwin

“It feels strange to say that, after the best points-scoring round of my season so far, I’m honestly a little frustrated. In the last race, if I hadn’t got pushed back to 14th and then used the tyre up getting back up through the field, I honestly think we had a podium in us. The bike was really, really good, which makes not getting that podium hurt a bit. But my guys did a fantastic job, they built a bike that really worked for us today. I’m really grateful to them and I hope we can continue to carry the momentum that we’ve been building since Knockhill.”

Jack Kennedy

“I obviously hope that everybody involved in the red flag incidents is okay. That was a crazy race, with three stoppages and a Safety Car period, which got cut short at the end when I was trying to line myself up to put it on the box. Thanks to my team, the feeling was a lot better on the bike today after some changes that we made after the warm-up. Then we had a brake problem on the grid and the lads were able to fix that, they changed the master cylinder right there, so credit to them. There are positives to take from the day in terms of setup, and a fourth and a fifth is good for points, even if it’s not what we came here to achieve. But overall, I think it’s put us in a good place to approach Honda’s home race at Cadwell Park and a circuit where I run well.”

Dean Harrison

“I don’t think that was a true race, really, to be fair. A two-lap/three-lap dash isn’t what we’re all about, is it? Obviously, you feel for the guys who came off, but I’ve never done a race like that before! But our pace was good all weekend: the fastest laps were good, I was close to Jack’s times and we were able to carry that speed through in every session. So we’ll just take that and do it again at Cadwell; a circuit that I like and that I’m looking forward to.”

Team Manager Havier Beltran

“Thruxton is a notoriously difficult circuit on which tyre management is paramount. It’s hugely fast, which creates unique challenges for the team, who delivered a lot of hard work, and to come away with all four riders having scored some good points is positive. Now we look ahead to a very different challenge at Cadwell Park, the home circuit for Honda Racing UK.”